James Prather joined Houston Institute in July 2022, after teaching English in the YES Prep school district for two years. He holds a bachelor of arts in Comparative Literature and a Master of Arts in Creative Writing (Fiction), both from Northwestern University, where he played tight-end on the football team. He is currently pursuing his Master of Fine Arts in poetry at the University of St. Thomas in Houston. His poems and essays have appeared or are forthcoming in periodicals, such as Literary Matters, Ekstasis, and New Verse Review. He and his wife, Lyndsey, have three children.